Field of Invention
The disclosed invention generally relates to the controller component of a Software Defined Network (SDN). The present invention relates specifically to a system and method for a software defined network (SDN) enabling a dynamic control layer by placing, activating, and deactivating controllers, and re-distributing traffic amongst them in real-time as the network's control layer traffic volume and requirements change over time.
Discussion of Related Art
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a new paradigm where the control of computer and communication networks is accomplished via programmatic interfaces. There are a number of approaches to SDN. In the most popular approach, the data and control planes that typically reside in a switch are separated and the control plane is moved to a separate device, commonly referred to as the controller as described in the article “OpenFlow: Enabling Innovation in Campus Networks” by Nick McKeown et al., which appeared in ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, vol. 38, no. 2, April 2008 and also in the Pre-Grant Application by Casado et al. (2009/0138577). When triggered, the controller calculates the most appropriate route through the network between two nodes and programs all switches along this route accordingly. The controller can be a physical server, a virtual machine or an appliance. There can be multiple controllers in a computer network in this approach. It is possible to divide the network into regions and have different controllers control each region. It is also possible to have multiple controllers control a single switch for reliability and/or performance issues, where each controller may control different ports, or different flow types, or flows with different end nodes. In this approach, a well-defined protocol, OpenFlow, is used for communication between the network forwarding devices and the controller. The controller also has a northbound application programming interface so that different, custom control applications that use the OpenFlow data may be installed on the controller. This approach is advocated by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) that aims to standardize the OpenFlow protocol. The latest version of the OpenFlow protocol may be accessed via the ONF web page. It is also possible to use a protocol other than OpenFlow to enable proper operation of this approach.
The U.S. patent to Kempf et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 8,762,501) discloses implementing a 3G Packet Core in a Cloud Computer with Openflow Data and Control Planes. Kempf et al.'s method implements a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunnel protocol (GTP) in a packet core (PC) of a third generation (3G) network having a split architecture where a control plane of the PC of the 3G network is in a cloud computing system, and where the cloud computing system includes a controller.
Embodiments of the present invention are an improvement over prior art systems and methods.